5. February 2025

Tariffs, Gaza, Greenland? Or how to obscure the takeover of the US government by tech billionaires.

Dear Friends,

Trump, Bannon and Musk have done it: the whole world is talking about trade wars, tariffs, and today a US occupation of Gaza. In recent weeks, it has been Canada, Mexico and Greenland. Every day there are several more super stories, each one wilder than the last. The new reports come so fast that the media, the public and politicians don’t have time to look closely before the next one comes along.

This is no accident. This is strategy. This is Bannon’s ‘Flood the zone with shit’ to perfection.

And it is supposed to distract from what is really happening. What ‘Project 2025’ has described in detail in hundreds of pages.

The takeover of the US federal government by tech billionaires (at least 13 of whom are in Trump’s cabinet) and radical Republicans and libertarians is in full swing. Not figuratively. But very concretely.

That’s why I want to report this to you. So that you know and can pass it on. And see through it when the same strategy is used in Germany and Europe (which is already happening – but I’ll write more about that again!)

I want to pick out three things as examples.

1. Musk now controls the US-wide federal payments system

Musk’s DOGE people got access to the ‘Federal Payments System’ over the weekend from the new US Treasury Secretary. This is how the federal government processes payments to millions of US citizens: health care, salaries, funding programmes, tax refunds and much more. Every year, $6,000 billion in payments are made through this system. Extremely sensitive data, to which Elon Musk now has direct access. Experts are talking about a ‘data breach of exponential size’.

No one can control what happens to it now. But since Musk, Thiel, Zuckerberg and Co. only became billionaires by using personal data in the first place, we have to be extremely concerned. There is also a real risk that the system could be deliberately or accidentally damaged. The US government would become unable to pay its bills and employees, with catastrophic consequences for the economy and the people.

Not to mention the risk of this data falling into other hands. In 2013, a similar database of salary data for federal employees was attacked by Chinese hackers. With Musk’s control, this is now more directly possible.

2. USAID, the US development aid agency, is stormed and taken over

The takeover continues with USAID. While the world is looking elsewhere, over the weekend and during the night, DOGE people who don’t want to give their last name gain access to the USAID building and, once again, the personnel database and the digital payment system with which billions of US development aid are processed annually ( more information here). The head of security who stands in their way is fired, the employees receive an email telling them to stay at home. Trump talks about ‘left-wing lunatics’ who allegedly control USAID and incites hatred against the employees. On top of that, there is the fear that data on human rights defenders could now fall into the hands of their authoritarian states. A highly dangerous situation!

3. The FBI and the Department of Education are next on the list.

Musk and his DOGE people are not stopping with the Treasury Department and USAID. The FBI is supposed to hand over the data of the officials involved in the investigation of the insurgents who stormed the Capitol on 6 January 2021. The goal is clear and openly communicated: Trump wants to personally punish them for enforcing the law.

 

It is already clear that there will be many lawsuits against these takeovers. Because much of it is very clearly not covered by US law.

But the point is this: now Musk, Thiel and Co. have access to the most sensitive data of US citizens, companies, NGOs and partners in the world.

Even if courts decide that this was unlawful, they have the data. For me, and for many observers in the US, this clearly shows what is happening right now:

The tech billionaires in Trump’s cabinet are now collecting payment for their support of Trump. In the form of US citizens’ data.

But don’t take it from me. Listen again to Professor Shoshana Zuboff in our webinar from three weeks ago. She describes exactly what is at stake and what is happening: https://europecalling.podigee.io/b212-tech-billionaires#t=7277

The takeover is happening. And the world is watching Trump’s incendiary shell game with Canada, Gaza and Co..

I will not get tired of revealing the tech billionaires’ plans and background and fighting for Europe to take a hard line.

Please forward this email to all your contacts so that they are all aware. As Shoshana Zuboff says: the tech billionaires fear two things most: the public and democracy!

With determined regards,

Yours, Alexandra Geese

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